What to Know
- The NFL trade deadline was at 4 p.m. ET on Tuesday.
- The major trade of the day sent quarterback Kirk Cousins from Las Vegas back to Minnesota.
- Colts RB Jonathan Taylor was not traded, nor was Titans RB Tony Pollard.
- The Chiefs added WR Josh Downs from the Colts.
- The Patriots made no moves.
It wasn’t a crazy trade deadline day in the NFL, but it was an active one, with a half-dozen deals getting done on Tuesday, a day after four deals were executed around the league.
It was not a busy day for the Patriots, though, who didn’t make any deals before the 4 p.m. ET deadline. They figured to have been candidates to add at various places of need, but they either felt comfortable with their current roster or uncomfortable with the asking prices for some players who might have been considered short-term additions.
The big headline of the day is the reunion of quarterback Kirk Cousins with the Vikings, after Cousins really served his role well as Fernando Mendoza’s usher into the NFL in Las Vegas. Rather than risking a lost season despite having a dominant defense, the Vikings coughed up a third-round pick to get the 35-year-old QB.
In the AFC, the Chiefs made the big move, getting wide receiver Josh Downs (and a seventh-round pick) from the Colts in exchange for a fourth and a fifth-round pick.
The Bills also made a big addition, getting safety Amani Hooker and his league-leading five interceptions to help a defense that sorely needs it. The Bills forked over a second-round pick to the Titans to get Hooker and a fifth-round pick in return.
Check out all of the day’s action in the live blog below.
Tom E. Curran and Phil Perry react to all the news from the NFL trade deadline with a live edition of the “Patriots Talk Podcast”. They discuss what the Patriots didn’t do, plus which moves will move the needle in the wide open AFC.
The trend of in-season trades being much more common continued this year, with the official number of in-season trades ending at 18.
The Athletic recently examined the history of in-season trades and noted that there were three total in-season trades in the 2002 and 2003 seasons combined, and the league averaged fewer than five in-season trades in the 11 seasons that followed. The number jumped to over 14 trades per year from 2015-25, and more specifically, it was just under 17 per season from 2020-25.
So the trade deadline, while disappointing in some corners of the NFL, remained a busy one.
With the football world awaiting another move or two to be reported after the deadline, this isn’t the one they were hoping to see.
Right on.
If you’re hoping for a buzzer beater of a deal for the Patriots, don’t hold your breath.
SI’s Albert Breer indicates that it “looks like” the Patriots will sit out the deadline.
Tennessee Titans running back Tony Pollard is staying put.
The Titans are keeping running back Tony Pollard despite interest, per sources.
— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) November 10, 2026
